ut in
Florence, Milan, or Rome, he claims the honour of being born a native
of Italy. The people of condition here speak both languages equally
well; or, rather, equally ill; for they use a low, uncouth phraseology;
and their pronunciation is extremely vitious. Their vernacular tongue
is what they call Patois; though in so calling it, they do it
injustice.--Patois, from the Latin word patavinitas, means no more than
a provincial accent, or dialect. It takes its name from Patavium, or
Padua, which was the birthplace of Livy, who, with all his merit as a
writer, has admitted into his history, some provincial expressions of
his own country. The Patois, or native tongue of Nice, is no other than
the ancient Provencal, from which the Italian, Spanish and French
languages, have been formed. This is the language that rose upon the
ruins of the Latin tongue, after the irruptions of the Goths, Vandals,
Huns, and Burgundians, by whom the Roman empire was destroyed. It was
spoke all over Italy, Spain, and the southern parts of France, until
the thirteenth century, when the Italians began to polish it into the
language which they now call their own: The Spaniards and French,
likewise, improved it into their respective tongues. From its great
affinity to the Latin, it was called Romance, a name which the
Spaniards still give to their own language. As the first legends of
knight-errantry were written in Provencal, all subsequent performances
of the same kind, have derived from it the name of romance; and as
those annals of chivalry contained extravagant adventures of knights,
giants, and necromancers, every improbable story or fiction is to this
day called a romance. Mr. Walpole, in his Catalogue of royal and noble
Authors, has produced two sonnets in the antient Provencal, written by
our king Richard I. surnamed Coeur de Lion; and Voltaire, in his
Historical Tracts, has favoured the world with some specimens of the
same language. The Patois of Nice, must, without doubt, have undergone
changes and corruptions in the course of so many ages, especially as no
pains have been taken to preserve its original purity, either in
orthography or pronunciation. It is neglected, as the language of the
vulgar: and scarce any-body here knows either its origin or
constitution. I have in vain endeavoured to procure some pieces in the
antient Provencal, that I might compare them with the modern Patois:
but I can find no person to give me the least info